


Barricade

by domini_moonbeam



Category: Redacted ASMR
Genre: Other, Romance, mentions threats and trauma, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:14:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28150725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/domini_moonbeam/pseuds/domini_moonbeam
Summary: Gavin notices charms on the deviant's door to keep out unwanted guests and they have a conversation that's long overdo.
Relationships: Gavin/Listener
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	Barricade

**Author's Note:**

> Based on characters from Redacted ASMR. I don't know if ANYONE is into this but I love them so here we go. If you have any particular asks feel free to hit me up on [tumblr](https://dominimoonbeam.tumblr.com/). No promises, of course, but I'll do what I can!
> 
> And really, if you haven't checked out Redacted, you should. This guy is building a whole connected supernatural world through audio stories. It's amazing.

Gavin rolled out of bed, stretching. He loved messed up sheets and clothes on the floor. All rooms should look like that. He always felt amazing after a night with his deviant. He’d made a habit of sleeping over, of not just vanishing when they were done.

His deviant had run off to start the coffee, he could hear the machine turning on in the other room.

He pulled on his pants, buttoning them when he noticed for the first time the pen marks on the windowsill. His eyes narrowed, recognizing the symbols. He turned toward the door just as his deviant returned but instead of going to them, he went to the door itself, looking at the pen marks here too.

“You put up a barricade?” Gavin asked but he was looking at it—knew it. He leaned closer, fingertips hovering briefly over the symbols sharpied on the doorframe of the bedroom. The barricade was to keep demons out when activated, obviously it wasn’t active or he wouldn’t be in this room—wouldn’t have been able to walk in.

They froze and stared at him and then at the door frame and then at him again, seeming stumped.

Gavin felt a jab in his chest but tried to set it aside and smile like he didn’t care—like he wasn’t jumping to conclusions. “If you’re worried I’ll come in without asking first—"

“No! It’s not you,” they said and then pressed their mouth shut, perhaps regretting that answer?

He turned fully toward them, still watching the lips of his deviant. Not him. So, someone? Someone specific? He didn’t like the way that made him feel. He didn’t usually feel angry. Hungry, sated, wanting, amused, indulgent, annoyed, and even happy were on his usual buffet of feelings but not anger.

“Who?” he demanded when they stood there silent and uncomfortable, not offering up the information. Now, he almost wished it had been to keep him out. That would have been another route of feelings he wasn’t used to. The possibility that his deviant wasn’t comfortable with the idea of him just showing up and had gone to these lengths was a pain he’d rather endure than the possibility of someone else giving them cause for a barricade.

The deviant jolted, faking a smile and shrugging, turning away to fuss about looking for a sweater. “I was practicing,” they lied.

They didn’t usually lie to him. Gavin was sure of it, because the deviant wasn’t good at lying and he knew plenty of people that were excellent at it. He studied them, trying to decide whether or not to push this. The deviant had knots inside, he knew that, and he didn’t pull at them as a general rule—not sure if he’d make it worse. Undoing those things wasn’t what he was made for, after all. He looked at the doorframe again, at the barricade. They had learned to do that just to keep someone out, someone that had either threatened to come into this room or had come in before. “Voyeur,” he went back to the old nickname, gaze sliding to them again.

They straightened, university hoodie in hand, turning to look at him again. Gavin felt like he’d been hit, fighting the urge to take a step back. He had never seen that look on his deviant. They looked… _frightened_. They glanced back from his face to the door and then back, chewing their bottom lip. Gavin liked that lip. He liked to nibble it too, but this was as far from that as he’d ever been. “Don’t worry about it,” they said again, trying to bandage the moment and get them past it.

Gavin took a step closer, relieved when they didn’t take a step back to get space from him. He wasn’t used to someone looking frightened around him, not like that. Excited, yes. Nervous, sure. Not frightened. But that fear wasn’t for him. Still, this wasn’t how they usually talked. He and the deviant talked about fun things, about sweet things, about people they knew—people he fucked—and it was always enjoyable. No one sated him like the deviant—they sated parts of him he didn’t know were hungry. They were friends, and yet just asking what was going on was out of place.

Luckily, Gavin had always been good at thinking on his feet. He was an expert at improvising. “You know, deviant, I am a daemon myself. I might be able to help…” He even managed to sound casually curious, not breathlessly worried. “Did you manage to get yourself a stalker? Or are you trying to get rid of your pesky empathy daemon?”

“I never said I had an empathy daemon,” they defended quickly.

Gavin smiled, wide and charming. “But you do. You’ve always been too interested in what I knew about them. And you’ve talked about a friend of yours that is either an empathy daemon or a toddler unicorn on crack…”

They frowned, obviously not pleased they gave that away but no longer looking scared, so that was good. Gavin had never suspected the empathy daemon was the cause of the barricade anyway. Pesky, sure, but the sweet things were always full of good intentions. But this might be a good way to get the deviant to fess up. “If you want me to chase them off—”

“No!” They clung to the sweater in their hands now. “I don’t want to chase him off. It’s not him. I just…” They looked at the door again and then down at the hoodie. “They probably won’t come back again I just didn’t want to be surprised,” they rushed to say, trying to shrug it off again.

Gavin schooled his reaction, raising one curious eyebrow. “How many daemons do you have at your whim, deviant?” He took another step closer, close enough to reach out and touch if he wanted to—or if they wanted to. “If you’ve caught the attention of another incubus, you should definitely tell people. You’ll have some real street cred…”

“No, it’s not an incubus and it’s not really about me.” Their voice got quieter and their gaze stayed down. He could see them thinking, realizing that he probably could be helpful, no doubt. “My friend, the empathy daemon, crossed paths with…I guess a pain demon?”

Gavin stayed very still, mind racing. A sadism demon? How would they meet? And why would his deviant even know about that? Empathy daemon’s don’t make knots—wouldn’t bring problems to one of their people. Unless the empathy daemon had to…

“How bad was it?”

“Bad,” they answered too quickly, voice hushed and eyes a little haunted.

Gavin cringed, teeth clicking and jaw clenching. “Are they okay now?” Hurting an empathy daemon was a dick move. They did nothing but try to make people feel better, and they were oh so much fun to mess with.

“Yeah.” The deviant was still talking hushed, still looking down at their own hands clenched in the hoodie.

“But it scared you?” Enough to put up a barricade?

The deviant was quiet for a minute and then finally shook their head. “He was here.”

He felt a wash of shock and then rage. No.

“I couldn’t move and he was here. He said I had to tell my friend to stop trying to interfere or he would…come back.”

Gavin knew they were choosing their words carefully, leaving things out.

“I couldn’t move,” they said again, mostly to themselves, eyes unfocused for a second.

“You mean…” he started and then hesitated, horrified. “You mean he paralyzed you?”

The deviant shifted from one foot to the other, glancing almost anxiously toward the bed. The bed still beautifully unmade from where they’d slept after a long night of amazing sex. That bed. His deviant’s bed. “A sadism demon had you paralyzed in your bed?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady but it was too hard, even he heard it.

They jumped a little, shaking their head. It wasn’t denial, it was just an effort to brush it away, he knew it even before they started saying, “It wasn’t a big deal. He was just trying to scare me into telling my friend not to get involved.” They dragged a hand through their own hair and Gavin could tell the deviant was mostly trying to convince themselves.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked the first question of what felt like a pileup inside his brain.

They shook their head but didn’t look directly at him.

He took a step closer, touching the deviant’s arm, tugging them to face him. They did, closing their eyes for a second and dragging a deep breath. He waited until the deviant let it out, slow and steady, opening their eyes and finally looking up at him again. “I’m okay. Really. It just freaked me out so…you know, the door.” They gestured and shrugged.

Gavin nodded slowly. “Okay.” Of course, they were freaked out. Someone had snuck into their room at night, immobilized them, and threatened them. But the threat had been directed at the empathy daemon, right? And no empathy daemon would do anything that could bring danger and pain to one of their people. If the empathy daemon knew. He sighed, thumb rubbing circles against the soft skin of the deviant’s arm. “You didn’t tell the empath, did you?”

They looked back at him, frowning tightly and that was all the answer Gavin needed. Of course, the deviant hadn’t. They wouldn’t want to add more fear or pain to the empathy daemon and they also wouldn’t bend to those threats. Stubborn.

“I just need to learn to defend myself and it won’t be a problem.”

“Oh, deviant…” Gavin crooned. Could he adore them more than he already did? So defiant. So stupid. So amazing. They softened, shoulders sinking.

“It’s going to be fine,” they said again and he suddenly understood that undertone of exhaustion and tension he’d seen in them for a while now. Maybe he should have asked—should have pressed. It had never been in his nature before but for them, he wished he’d tried.

But that wasn’t helpful now. All he could do was learn from this. He knew now. He pulled them into a hug, kiss hair and skin and trying not to think about the sadist that got close to his deviant. Trying not to let his mind wander to any “what ifs”. Their arms curled around his waist, body pressing into his, and it became easy to push those thoughts away and just revel in this nearness. An idea sparked and he grinned against his deviant’s neck. “You know, the door is good…but I could probably teach you a few tricks. I mean, I’ve taught you other tricks and you’re always such a quick learner.”

They laughed. “Tricks in bed aren’t really the same…” They wiggled against him when they said it and everything felt right again.

He nipped at their skin before pulled back to see their smile, that somewhat distracted, mischievous one. God, his deviant was easy to distract. “You know that electric touch thing?” he reminded. He knew they would remember that one. They had enjoyed it and then picked it up fast to use it on him, trailing a touch that sent literal shudders through his body. “With a little practice, you could up the voltage. Not fun for bed, but a good deterrent for anyone you don’t want in your bed…”

The deviant blinked at him and then slowly smiled. “Like my own taser?”

“One you always have at hand,” he promised, grinning. He had every intention of scaring off any fucker that thought they could mess with his deviant, but he wouldn’t hesitate to make sure they were also capable of defending themselves. In fact, teaching them would be another thing they could do together and Gavin loved everything they did together.


End file.
